not paying out on guarantee

[TAMMYJO348]

We live in an apartment complex in Texas. This company is AIMCO, which has multiple places in the nation. On their website and hanging in our local apartment office is a guarantee that states:

Our communities are committed to providing excellent service. Our Apartment Guarantee program guarantees a response to any reported maintenance problem in your home within 24 hours of notifying the Leasing Office (or by the end of the next business day on weekends).
If we do not repair the problem or notify you of a scheduled service visit within this timeframe, you will receive a credit on your next month's rent for each day (or portion thereof), which exceeds our 24-hour response guarantee.

We have had so many problems in the past with this place (been there since December) and it's been too much to go through with this, now I konw why we didn't. However, I am not going to give this up. Here's what happened...

We had a meeting with the community manager on August 15, 2006. On this date, we spoke with her about 3 service requests needing to be completed. 2 were done in the next few days, and the third was taking a LONG time. on August 30 I finally got tired of it, (our bathtub was severely clogged and wasn't draining and I couldn't get in there to do it), and called the office. I told the lady that we needed pest control and we needed the tub fixed beacuse it had been 2 weeks already! The next day, the pest control was out, but the tub wasn't done!

After contacting the corporate office through E-Mail, the tub was finally fixed on Sept 3. This is 18 days past the original date of notice. The office tells us that they will only give us $100 for this. The actual refund for this 18 days of no service for this issue comes to $293.40 with our $489 monthly rent pay. We spoke with our community manager, her supervisor, her manager, and the corporate office once again because with everything that's happened, we want the full refund to pay for this.

The manager tells us after reviewing everything with the corporate Vice President that we will still only get $100 instead of the full refund of $293.40.

What can I do for this? I have talked to everyone I can think of. Small claims court is next on my list...

[IndianaOwner]

Note - Guaranteeing a RESPONSE if not the same thing as guaranteeing it will be REPAIRED within 24 hours. I would have to know more to determine if you are being reasonable or are just making complaints to try and get credits. I doubt small claims court would benefit you.

[TAMMYJO348]

Right, that makes sense. But they didn't respond at ALL about this. They came out for the other 2 issues, left their little work tickets scattered in my floor, but no word of anything dealing with the bathtub. In the email from Gina, she says "i forgot" basically...she didn't tell the maintence guys about it at all!

[IndianaOwner]

I meant "a RESPONSE is not", not "if". Sorry for the typo. They will say they responded, etc. I'd take the repairs done and the $100 and be happy. I understand your frustration with the service level, but leave that for another repair call and document the request and let them know you expect things to be repaired as promised. Hope that helps.

[danno6925]

So you notified the proper person who blew it off? You now have emailed confirmation of this, so tyou should demand the full credit. Send a letter (CRRR) to the corporate offices demanding they make good on your guarantee or prepare for litigation to defend their actions. It will cost them more in court costs just to defend themselves. It is not your fault they have an idiot in their organization, so they oughtta cough up the amount they guarantee they'll pay.

One Caveat - Read your lease BERY carefully and look for anything that states you will be responsible for any and all court costs arising out of a dispute. Read that fine print!


I am NOT an attorney. I have worked in PA title insurance since 2000.

[IndianaOwner]

I say, take the $100 and be happy... Go to "war" on future issues if it remains a problem.

[danno6925]

Indiana:
I presume your logic is based on the legal precedent set by the "Fool Me Once - Shame on You, Fool Me Twice - Shame On Me" Act of 1911? C'mon, that's absolute crap! Why should the OP'er let the corp get off light on the refund if they were in the wrong?

TAMMYJO:
There's not one reason for you to let them get away with this. If the precedent is set that allows yet another corporation to get away with not keeping to the standards they have set for themselves, you'll get trampled on over and over again.

Inform the corporation that you demand they be held accountable! They made a guarantee to you as a consumer of their product - insist that they abide by it. I'm sure there's a corporate logic behind the 100.00 refund, so make them explain this to you. If you're not satisfied, then follow the advice from my earlier post. STICK IT TO THE MAN!!

[Zigner]

Originally Posted by danno6925

Indiana:
I presume your logic is based on the legal precedent set by the "Fool Me Once - Shame on You, Fool Me Twice - Shame On Me" Act of 1911? C'mon, that's absolute crap! Why should the OP'er let the corp get off light on the refund if they were in the wrong?

No, it's based more on the current and correct view that a quarter in the pocket is worth more than a nickel on the floor.

[IndianaOwner]

It has to do with reasonableness AND don't point out the splinter in their eye if you have a plank in yours. In other words, can YOU survive the same level of scrutiny that you doing to them??? If not, you might end up evicted. Life is too short. Take the $100 and next time you need something fixed make it clear that you expect them to live up to their guarantee...in full. If you go to war, you'll both get hurt.

[TAMMYJO348]

I am curious as to WHY we should have to wait for another case. This has happened before when we first moved in. Long story short they made myself and husband take 3 weeks of cold showers because the boiller for our building was down.

I understand that the GURANTEE is not for fixing it. We had this problem before on a smaller issue (was taken care of 3 days after the fact) where they stated they had LOOKED at the problem and didn't fix it. They acknowledged in the email that they needed to be reminded of the problem (community managers words).

Would Small Claims court be the way to pursue this? Or Civil Court for False Advertisement and being deceptive (not sure if I spelled that correctly).

[IndianaOwner]

Hey - I understand your frustration and to hold their feet to the fire, but if you push to hold things to the letter, so will they...and I suspect they have more fire power than you do. If you plan on moving out, go for it, but seems like a lot of hassle. Yes, they may cave (in the short term) if you file in small claims court (if your lease allows it) but in the long run you may be worse off. Take the $100...or do what you want. I'm just trying to be a voice of reason.